…a Toronto music blog as random as its name.

Tag Archives: los angeles

In September 2013, Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 debuted a track entitled ‘Ghost’, performed by LA-based singer-songwriter, RÁJ; in April 2014, the artist followed up with the song ‘Let Me Love You’. Both tracks are notable for their stark lyrical honesty, otherworldly atmosphere, and combination of traditional folk aesthetics with various degrees of brooding distortion. The artist has previously been lips-sealed on personal details of his life, background, and music, choosing instead to deliver somewhat-cryptic Twitter messages. That is, until now…

There has been a scant amount of background information available on you. As such, would you be willing to provide some of the most elementary of these details? Perhaps your name, birthplace, or birth date?

Of course, my name is Raj, I was born in Westlake village, California, on July 22, 1993.

To what extent has the hiding of your personal details been deliberate? Why might this be the case?

It hasn’t been important at all for me and the initial campaign. When I put out my first song “ghost” we released my name, my location, and a photo of myself. I’m fairly open actually, and pretty much willing to answer anything. My twitter is @rajnoise, ask away.

How important has social media and online distribution (including uploading and streaming services) been to the establishment of your own ‘identity’?

I think that in today’s entertainment world, it is the only way for artists to stay relevant. Social media is SUCH a beautiful thing. I can let the world know everything I want you guys to know, when I want you to know it, and it’s coming right from my mouth. We “the entertainers” are controlling the information that is given out about us. Before social media existed we were being spoken for by companies and brands, like TMZ, who go out of there way to manipulate a situation for their benefit, regardless of what is the truth.

How did you become a musician?

I always knew I could sing. I would be sitting in the back of my car with my mom when I was little and would sing along to what was playing and I always remember her looking back smiling at what was coming out of my mouth. She’s an incredible singer, so I think I got a little bit of her gift.

Are there any non-musical influences that have had an impact on your attitude to being a musician?

Yes. Anyone, in any field, who is considered “the best”. Woody Allen is first who comes to mind. I don’t know a TON about Woody, and I haven’t seen all of his films, but what I do know is Woody sticks to his guns. He has such a distinct taste and style, and it wins. Seeing someone “win” time and time again by doing exactly what they want is so inspiring. And Woody is SO himself. It’s really amazing. Also Johnny Depp. He definitely isn’t the most well rounded actor, but what an amazing guy. Every role he takes, he makes his own. Everything he does is just an extension of Johnny Depp. That’s how I want to be. I want to go play and sing on old blues songs, and you guys can hear ME. I want go feature on Kanye West hooks and I want you to still hear ME. I want everything I do to just be an extension of the core of RÁJ.

How would you describe your sound? What other music was perhaps an influence on you, and would you be able to provide any comparable artists for those who may be unfamiliar with your work?

I’m still finding that out. It’s becoming much clearer to me these days. The only thing I can say I strive for is to be tasteful. It’s such a vague word but I think if you understand it, you know exactly what the word means. I’m really inspired by darker sounding music generally. Oasis is my exception there, but they even have their dark moments (“Wonderwall”, “Talk Tonight”, “Morning Glory”). Radiohead, Lana Del Rey, Sidney Betchet, Jeff Buckley and Burial are my go to influences. They’re all such amazing artists.

Your music is quite open-hearted and introspective, and implements interesting usages of more typical folk instrumentation with heavy effects of distortion and reverberation. What is your approach to songwriting? What guides you in this process?

I don’t know anymore. There isn’t really a process these days, I just let it happen. In the past, I would generally start on guitar, write a melody, throw a couple words together, and then take it to the studio.

I had previously described your two tracks with some of the following terms: dark; minimalistic; brooding; ethereal; and melancholic. Yet, I had still referred to them as ‘pop’ tracks, atypical as they may sound for such a designation. Where might you stand in your approach to ‘pop’ music? Would you see yourself as a pop artist?

Yes, 100%. It is my goal, and I’ve just came to this idea recently, to be a pop artist. Not in the sense of production, but in the sense of being popular. I’m not saying I’m going to compromise my vision for what I think will do well, that’s the opposite of what I’m saying really. I’m here to take my abilities and write music for the entire world. For everyone’s home. I’m interested in writing songs your mother will love, and your super hip elitist brother or sister loved 6 months before you found it (classic art elitist). I want to make art that I like and in return the world likes. That’s my goal.

The video for ‘Let Me Love You’ contains some heavy symbolism of spirituality and religion. How central are these concepts to your songwriting? (And, perhaps by extension, your life?)

Songwriting? Not so much. I haven’t gone there yet. But in my life, heavily. “GOD” is an English word, and the concept seems Western to me. But the concept of “GOD” is rather worldly, or at least it should be. I believe there is a higher power that created all man. I believe Buddha, God, and Allah are all the same person (I know I’m missing a few). But it’s really been butchered. I don’t go to a specific church, and I don’t practice a specific religion. But I believe and respect in a higher power.

What was the impetus for having the video for ‘Ghost’ be one of a cinematic breed? Would you see it as being any less ‘personal’ than that made for LMLY (which is composed entirely of amateur footage of RÁJ walking around various areas of France)?

It was just fitting. I don’t know if it was so thought out to not have me in it. It just felt right though. In hindsight, maybe it’s less personal to the viewer (me not being in it), but it’s still a moving video. I don’t think it lacks passion at all.

What can we expect from you in the near future? A full EP or LP release? A continuation of your current touring?

I’m just writing right now. It’ll all come out eventually, I’m not sure if it will be an EP or LP, but I’m working hard at making it the best it can be. That’s my main focus. What comes after it, I have no clue.

And, finally… Have you caught World Cup fever?

YES! Love the World Cup. I don’t pay attention SUPER closely, but I have seen majority of the games. Predicting Netherlands win.

RÁJ has most recently performed as part of KCRW’s Chinatown Summer Nights series on Saturday, June 14, in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles trio Wildcat! Wildcat! (sharing an affinity for exclamation marks in the middle of their name with The Go! Team and Godspeed You! Black Emperor) quickly piqued curiosity this year with noteworthy live performances at SXSW (as championed by Time Magazine and Buzzfeed), supporting acts like Alt-J and Portugal. The Man. If the recent release of their self-titled debut EP is any indication, curiosity will soon be turning into adoration and admiration, even if the group’s largely unidentifiable sound will relegate them to cult status over mainstream airplay (and is that really a bad thing?).

WC! WC! deliver a deliciously idiosyncratic approach to dream pop, complicating its traditional wall of sound with a complete lack of guitar and hip hop-influenced beats. “The Chief’” introduces their “wall” and highlights Taylor’s falsetto vocals in particular, their fragile nature turned waiflike through the heavy use of reverberation, which helps to form the core of the track and the EP as a whole. In “Garden Grays”, the falsetto is paired up with vocals recalling the hushed, trembling quality of Thom Yorke, the layering of the two pushing forward the dreamy and pensive nature of the EP’s overall sound. While such a function of the vocals can be evidenced throughout each of the EP’s four tracks, the keys act similarly, often twinkling in the background (reverbed) to evoke a playful and dreamlike sensibility, while maintaining a softness that could permit one to either dance to the music or enjoy it in a relaxed state of mind—a fine line which is difficult under normal circumstances, but which is seemingly executed with brevity for the trio.

Yet, for all of the more traditional dream pop rudiments WC! WC! perfect, it is in the element of surprise with which they fully grab the listener’s attention. “The Chief” begins with a deep, heavy electronic drum beat which is heavily inspired by hip hop, only to segue right into a fluid keyboard piece. Bookending the track’s element of surprise is the introduction of a saxophone, beautiful not only on its own terms, but fitting in extremely well with the song’s airy aesthetic. While it also has that reliable reverb applied to it, its placement assures it does not overwhelm the rest of the music, instead being utilized to increase the track’s serene atmosphere (a la the saxophone solo in M83’s ‘Midnight City’, coincidentally associated with dream pop-like aesthetics).

What Wildcat! Wildcat! have brought forth on their major debut is a sound which is impressive both in terms of technical proficiency and creativity. The multilayered instrumentation for only three members is surprising, yet never becomes muddled or overambitious, reflecting both the expertise in production for the EP, and the trio’s inherent creative ambitions. WC! WC! have landed on a sound which utilizes the deep, repetitive beats of hip hop with the aesthetics of dream pop that emphasize sonic texture over pop chords or rock riffs—and, in so doing, have concocted a set of tracks which will, hopefully, be a hint of what is to come for this exciting trio.

FINAL GRADE: A-

SIMILAR SOUNDS:

Beach House – Bloom (2012)
Black Light Dinner Party – B.L.D.P. (2012)
Washed Out – Within and Without (2011)